In many security applications, it may be required that certain data stored in one or more memory regions be continuously, or periodically, monitored and analyzed by a security client to ensure the integrity of the data in these regions of memory. Such security protocol may ensure that the content stored in memory has not been changed, replaced, or in any way tampered with, by piracy attempts and/or unauthorized users.
With regard to robust protection against signal piracy, information bearing signals should be protected so as to eliminate unauthorized interception and access by a third party. Some conventional signal security methods utilize signal scrambling where the scrambled signal content is not readily discernable by a receiving party. Efficient scrambling of different kinds of signals such as multimedia broadcasts, for example, may be achieved in such a manner that there is no perceptible deterioration in signal quality when these signals are being restored. With either a conditional access (CA) system or a copy protection system, private (secure) keys may be utilized for scrambling and descrambling high-value content or for protecting highly sensitive transactions. In a CA system, a content scrambling key is utilized and this content scrambling key has to be protected.
For a complex computer or set-top box (STB) System on Chip (SoC), there may be many clients in the SoC which access the memory for fetching instructions and/or data, for example. Such clients within the SoC may be adapted to access the memory through a memory bus. An unauthorized user may attempt to tap into the memory bus from outside of the SoC in order to monitor the data access patterns of the SoC clients and to attempt an unauthorized signal access. Monitoring the data access patterns of the SoC clients may enable the unauthorized user to determine which data access is for security check by a security client, for example, ultimately allowing the unauthorized user to circumvent security protocol and gain unauthorized data access.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.